Our Mission

The Institute for Self Active Education (ISAE) is a non-profit charitable organization established in 1980, founded by Dr. Walter and Kitty Drew. As a community of practice, it promotes self active play as a tool for encouraging and awakening the creative potential in children, teachers, parents and others to help improve and enhance the quality of early childhood education.

Vision

The Institute for Self Active Education (ISAE) is a community of practice devoted to awakening the creative potential of children and adults through hands-on self active play and art making with open ended materials.

ISAE provides professional development workshops, play leadership training programs and discovery retreats to support others in their pursuit of their creative potential.

  • The Institute for Self Active Education (ISAE) plays an integral role in helping professional organizations (including state affiliates), focus on the importance of play.
  • The Reusable Resources Adventure Center in West Melbourne, Florida, serves as a model of a program that obtains and provides open-ended materials and training in self-active play experiences.  It promotes business partnerships within a community in order to attain high-quality play materials and builds awareness by companies and others of the educational and environmental impacts of these donations for reuse.
  • ISAE provides training and technical assistance for communities seeking to create a Reusable Resource Center, source open-ended play materials and institute play training.


Self-active play and art making are integral to the curriculum for even the youngest students.